is this illegal at work regarding pay

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At my current place of employment at this ltc/nursing home, u clock in and out when ur done with ur work but thing is, even if u stay extra u do not get paid for it. it is required that u have a really good excuse for staying late and u need to have it approved by the supervisor in order to get the pay for it. otherwise u can stay 1 or 2 hr late bc ur not done with ur medicare charting or what not (which is required each shift) and not get paid for it. even if u tell the superviser bc u have admissions or what not, its still not a valid excuse. however, if u clock in late, it will show what time u clock in on ur paystub but even if u clock out late, it will show that u leave exactly at 11:30 (i work 3-11 shift). so i usually stay a few min late when i come to work late to make up for it because it shows on my paystub but when i leave late it always say i leave on time and come on time. is this illegal? the only way someone gets ot in this facility is to work an extra day or shift. what should i do? if this is illegal, why has this been going on for years and years? or is this how most ltc and nursing homes run by? :down:

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Specializes in OR, GI Lab, ER.

I would strongly suggest you contact your state wage and hour commission for some advice. If you punch a clock and then the times are changed afterward by someone in accounting without your approval and knowledge I believe that is illegal. And if you work over 40 hours per week that is in most states required to paid at an overtime rate. Call the state and get some advice and good luck!

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

I do not believe this is legal. Not getting your work done does not mean you should be punished by working for free. Check with the labor dept. for your state or look under the US govt listings and ask them.

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I agree with the other posts, times are too hard to be working for free.:twocents:

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If you arrive late for work, and clock in late, which means after the time that you are supposed to start; the employer is not required to pay you the full time even if you stay over the extra few minutes.

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Yes, this is illegal. Where I live, a relative of mine worked for the local New York Times affiliate. They were changing time cards and they got dinged and had to pay people alot of back pay and they had to pay a fine. Notify your wage and earnings board, but first keep a record of what time the clock says you clock in and out, go to payroll when your check is incorrect and see what they say, write down what they say and who you spoke with, try to get others who are complaining about the same issues to do the same and then contact your wage and earnings board and let them know what is going on.

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Laws are simple regarding pay for hourly employees whether you work for LTC or Walmart.

When you work, you get paid. You don't work off the clock...no matter what they tell you.

If they say you don't have permission to stay late and have no exceptions, then to me, that is giving you permission to leave, so clock out and go home. They cannot say, "That isn't a valid reason...by the way, finish the admission and we aren't paying you for it either."

Any hours worked over 40 in a week, you get paid time and a half, unless your state laws are set up to get OT if you work over 8 in a day. OT for over 40 is regulated by the US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.

Here is the problem with working off the clock:

If you get hurt, you don't get workman's compensation.

If you make a mistake, the facility's won't cover you.

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so ideally ur suppose to leave wen ur shift ends bc ur not getting paid for it. but if ur caught with not documenting that day u will get a notice for not being compliant with the medicare guidelines and have to document on another day for a late entry. so basically that day ur doing double the charting. and things can get pile up that way and eventually you will still never finish your work. One nurse who worked there one time had to cover about 40-50 residents because one nurse was a no-show. the facility did send a nurse to help him pass the night meds but he ended up staying about 2 hours late. he talked with administrator about being reimbursed for staying extra and they say no because u have your easy days and u have ur hard days. its not fair to the facility that they have to pay u for the hard days when they dont take money off from ur check when you have ur easy days. and that was a the reply....:uhoh21:

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Specializes in ICU.

it's good to be the accountant! legal or not, it's the way it is. i haven't taken lunch in 30 years and have yet to be paid for it. i'm also supposed to get sick time and 1-15 minute breaks but that doesn't happen either. i'm not sure what other profession would put up with the nonsense nursing has put up with for years and years and years and years.

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Specializes in Cardiac.
so ideally ur suppose to leave wen ur shift ends bc ur not getting paid for it. but if ur caught with not documenting that day u will get a notice for not being compliant with the medicare guidelines and have to document on another day for a late entry. so basically that day ur doing double the charting. and things can get pile up that way and eventually you will still never finish your work. One nurse who worked there one time had to cover about 40-50 residents because one nurse was a no-show. the facility did send a nurse to help him pass the night meds but he ended up staying about 2 hours late. he talked with administrator about being reimbursed for staying extra and they say no because u have your easy days and u have ur hard days. its not fair to the facility that they have to pay u for the hard days when they dont take money off from ur check when you have ur easy days. and that was a the reply....:uhoh21:

wow that is so absurd. You need to keep track of your hours too, keep records of EVERYTHING, including names of managers working that day, things they say to you about not being paid ect.

they might have something about this in your contract that allows them to do this, you need to find out. At least they don't fine you for working more than 35 hours a week they they do at Village Cadilac/Toyota/scion where my friend works as a Service Secretary.

they can do what they want, because they have high paid lawyers looking for any and all loopholes to save them 2 dollars.

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Specializes in ICU, M/S,Nurse Supervisor, CNS.

That does sound pretty illegal to me. But, like others have already stated, look into this matter with your state commission and make sure there is nothing in any contract that allows this to happen. At a hospital I used to work at, one nurse manager was changing the punch in/out times of her employees so as not to pay overtime unless an extra shift was worked. A few of the nurses after noticing the difference in their paychecks began to document the shortages and reported her to her boss. This manager was fired and all the employees recieved retropay for what they were short-changed before. This had been going on for about 6 months or more, so the hospital paid quite a bit of money to all those nurses. Too bad they didn't give them interest, but that probably would have been asking too much.:icon_roll

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Specializes in OB/Neonatal, Med/Surg, Instructor.

One of the hospitals I used to work for got in trouble for something similar and we all received checks when the Feds got through with them. You can quietly chat with the good folks at wage and hour to see where you stand in the state where you live (even though it is federal, some states allow hospitals to enter 'agreements' with their employees regarding work week hours), but don't let anyone know that you have unless you were already planning a career change. Administrators try all kinds of things to reduce the expense of their nursing staff, but this sounds illegal on several counts. Good luck.

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